Tricamerate Pact
Overview The three worlds of The Tricamerate Pact sit at the center of a military and economic alliance that has held firm against the Orks surrounding them and their neighbors for centuries, with two of the members already close allies the liberation of the third was the foundation of The Pact. Despite having three distinct cultures the three planets stand strong, united in the dedication to the larger Imperium and their hatred for The Greenskins. History of The Tricamerate Pact The history of the Tricamerate Pact begins with the liberation of Xomia in 651 M41. Khazamga and Olea had been fighting together for many years but Xomia, recently restored to the Imperial fold after 600 years of isolation still needed outside aid. Olea and Khazamga quickly welcomed Xomia as an ally, promising economic and military assistance. Xomia agreed to the same terms and so The Tricamerate Pact was born bound together by a shared hatred for Orks, mutual respect and shared financial interests in both their own space and in the nearby Exile Sector. Tricamerate Pact Charter and Economy Their charter includes among other things: *A military alliance and free trade agreement between these three worlds and joint economic interests in unclaimed resources on planets in their territory, such as Rocks Fall,Deshi Basara and Chanpuri *The defense of the Kanye Cluster and a free trade agreement with them. *A (now removed) free trade agreement and military alliance with the The Kashidaan Cluster *Trade agreements with Fidea Prime and House Faramond rulers of the nearby planet Montelay. * The pact also specifies that the Tricamerate Imperial Guard commanders always request to be deployed together. So far these requests have been honored by the Departmento Munitorum who have taken their proximity and good relationship into account. Unusually for the Imperial Guard Tricamerate Pact armies are only sent offworld when they are needed, returning home between their campaigns, however such campaigns can take years or longer and so they usually attract the civilian followers common to armies on the march. Relations with The Kashidaan Cluster They fought with the Kashidaan Imperial Guard many times in the neighboring Kanye Cluster and neighboring planets that were not part of any of these three groups when the Kashidaan worlds had troops to spare. They never received the opportunity to send troops to help them fight Hive Fleet Erebus but still did their part to honor their end of the agreement by accepting Kashidaan refugees- many of whom joined the Pact's Imperial Guard. The fall of the Kashidaan Cluster also bought them a small reprieve allowing some of the Olea Heavy Infantry to return home or the first time in many years. The Orks that surround the Tricamerate Pact and their holdings have drifted away, seeking a better challenge against whatever Tyranids may remain in the Kashidaan worlds or to join the Exile Sector's most powerful warbosses. The Latest generation of the Tricamerate Pact now faces new enemies as many regiments are currently deployed along the edge of the River of Exiles to help protect the Imperial worlds located there. 'Khazamga' The Khazamga are a people of mountains and hills with a rich tradition of proud honorable warriors to match their rich and ancient history. Their ancestry is Indian, a people living in the shadow of the Himalayas. this is a point of pride for them as those mountains now house the Imperial Palace on Terra. History of Khazamga As to how they arrived on their world- no one is quite sure and only a few curious scholars continue to ask and research. Most of Khazamga's people see their history through a legendary epic poem, the title of which translates as "The Exile from Kolkata and our journey amongst the stars" It tells how they left the overcrowded, dirty and dangerous cities of India and fled to the stars. The text is curiously absent of details such as dates and the names of their leaders calling the man who led their exodus simply "The Raja" and referring to the rest in a pompous, almost unreadable style. The text tells how they eventually settled on an untouched world and there built their cities using the ancient past as a model but within only a few hundred years they began to fight amongst themselves. The poem ends with them unifying against Culture The people of Khazamga are not strangers to conflict, protecting their cities and towns from Orks for as long as they can remember but they also take great pride in their millennia old cities and they have reason to do so. They are also a people of artisans and craftsmen as well as warriors with some overlap, the weapons they produce are more ornate than strictly needed but never to the point where form becomes more important than function. In the case of power swords and war lances they are built from machines blessed and repaired yearly by representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Their cities are built from stone, mud brick and glass. The wealthier among them live in large homes with towering spires and stained glass windows. They tend to build these cities on high ground, surrounded by high stone walls equally protective and decorative. Many of these are regional capitalsruled over by the Rajas and Ranis that share power over the world. Women are allowed to rule and command regional PDF descended from their ancestors' armies, but are not expected to fight personally. Amongst these powerful nobles and other wealthy families marriages are arranged, keeping wealth and power within those families. The Tale of Samvarta, a popular legend with dozens of different variations tells of a woman who fled such a fate joining the Adeptas Sororitas to escape an arranged marriage to a man she did not love. Women wear their hair in elaborate braids sometimes tied around their waists and the men wear long beards, often braided and tucked into belts worn over their long tunics. This tradition of never cutting their hair is borrowed from their distant ancestors as well as the surname "Singh", The name is very common on Khazamga, most citizens have it somewhere either as a surname or as a personal one. In warmer climates women will wear midriff baring garments of flowing cloth but in colder regions, such as the region home to the Khazamga 7th women wear more modest clothing including fleece lined sheepskin coats and shoes. But no matter the climate they will also wear elaborate nose studs, and sometimes temporary tattoos in ink made from a local plant. Working class Khazamga and soldiers tend to favor drab clothing- while the wealthy show off with bright colors and high quality materials. Whether worn by men or women, rich or poor the patterns on their clothes indicate which region of Khazamga they come from. Only those who know the world well can really tell- cities and towns within that region will have their own unique, minute variations on the regional patterns. While those within the cities and walled towns are seldom armed, protected by high walls and heavy weapons those who live outside this protection such as shepherds and traveling merchant caravans are always armed due to the presence of Orks. Whichever city or region they happen to be from Khazamga tradition does not allow the consumption of alcohol as they believe it dulls the senses but in general they have no problem with gathering around a water pipe in small groups to relax. In general their food is built around mutton, goat and rice and is generally spicy enough that most outsiders can't eat anything but their staple flatbread. Khazamga Imperial Guard The honor codes they try to live by apply only toward they regard as warriors, not to Orks which they regard as little more than animals with the power of speech. However they do respect them, understanding how dangerous they are and seeing their presence as the sole reason they did not destroy themselves. They regard those they see as warriors as equals, in the case of the Olea light infantry they simply see a world whose ways are different than theirs but that fact should not be a source of derision or conflict. Their best known regiments are the Khazamga 7th Infantry Khazamga 1st Rough Riders "Hard Chargers" Honor Code All Khazamga warriors follow these codes, however parts of the Uplifting Primer directly contradict them leading to some internal struggle between being a warrior and being an Imperial Soldier. In such cases the idea of fleeing a lost battle when needed they used it as motivation to ensure that they win. • The innocent have no place in war. • Women and children are not to be harmed for they are the future of our people • Holy Places have no place in war and none must fight in them. • Once a Holy Place is defiled by an enemy it must be recaptured and made holy again. A failure to do so is a loss of honor. • A fellow warrior must be treated with respect unless they make themselves unworthy of it by harming innocents. Then they are no better than animals. • It is dishonorable to flee from battle while those you command still fight. • It is better to retreat from a lost battle than to die without need, so that you may be victorious in the next. • It is better to die than to live without honor. • If a warrior must die it is best that he die to defend his people • It is better still that he lives to fight on 'Olea' Olea History and culture Like Khazamga no one is quite sure where or when the people of Olea arrived on their world, however they are certain that they came from a place called "England" specifically cities there named "Liverpool", "Newcastle" and "Manchester" oral history tells that these were dirty, working class cities not unlike what they built on Olea. They are different in one respect these ancient cities were built around coal, theirs around Promethium and mineral wealth. A heavily populated and dirty industrial world most of its cities are built in resource rich areas. The capital city of Wintercourt is built on vast Promethium deposits in the Northern Polar Region, a thick black sludge that requires further processing before use. The flames and thick black smoke pouring off the drilling rigs burning off the gases produced as a side effect of the process can be seen for hundreds of miles in every direction often hanging over the city itself. The city of Iron Harbor, known for being the hometown of Coraline Briar is a major fishing port and shipping center producing the canned fish included in Olea Imperial Guard rations. Smaller towns and settlements in the Glitterpeak Mountains are built around mining interests. The people live off subsistence farming, hunting, making extra money selling the furs, and fishing in the few unpolluted rivers. Those who live in the cities, ugly and built mostly of low lying gray rockcrete structures have a lower standard of living. Space is at a premium and most resources are shipped offworld to hold back the constant Ork threat leaving them to survive with next to nothing. something they've learned to do surprisingly well, preserving whatever vegetables they can grow, and those who own houses with cellars grow edible mushrooms With more resources to spare in recent years their government is working to improve infrastructure but they can do little about the alcoholism that is depressingly common in many of their cities. Change is slow and the working classes are still concerned with little but living for another day, while many work in industry and the promethium fields these tend to be low paying jobs, the owners of the promethium wells are wealthy at the expense of their workers. As such most Olea citizens wear cheap, easily repairable clothes made of drab synthetic fibers and thick boots, often with metal studs in the soles to prevent them from wearing out as quickly. Imported Khazamaga silks are a luxury item out of the reach of most. The very poorest are truly desperate doing whatever they have to do to survive, joining gangs for mutual protection and going so far as to hunt and eat the mutant rats that live in poorly maintained sewers. Attempting to solve two problems at once, local governments have placed a bounty on these rats, stopping the spread of disease and letting the hunters earn money to buy actual food. Khazamga provides much of it in exchange for their exports of refined promethium and metal. They now also export fuel and material to both the Kanye Cluster and to Xomia who have also given them the knowledge of how to make their limited farmland more productive and so this has improved as well, the people are not going hungry for perhaps the first time in their history. After the fall of the Kashidaan Cluster many Szerkasian refugees would come to Olea, Szerkasian women would serve in the Imperial Guard for the first time and in later generations many of its citizens could claim ancestors from this world. Olea Light Infantry Vast numbers of the all male Imperial Guard regiments were called away to fight leaving Olea largely defenseless. In order to survive the women left behind took over the infrastructure and its defense. In time as one war after another drained Olea of fighting men the entire social structure of the world began to change and women became the leaders of families, government and industry as well. These wars eventually ended and the men returned to find a changed planet. Women now occupied most positions of power and authority and had given themselves opportunities including those of Imperial Guard service. The all-female regiments were by this point so entrenched into the culture that no attempts to disband them would ever be successful so they were integrated into the Imperial Guard and now serve alongside their male comrades in separate regiments that emphasize speed and mobility over standing and fighting. The3rd Olea Light Infantry "Ragged Angels" is the best known drawing its recruits primarily from the city of Wintercourt and its suburbs. ='Xomia'= History and Culture Much was lost during the Dark Age of Technology including Xomia's knowledge of their own past. They know their ancestors came from nations once called "Central Asia" and "Armenia" but have no knowledge beyond that and after almost 20,000 years 600 of which was spent out of contact with the Imperium at large they've simply lost interest. They do know that they arrived on Xomia sometime during the latter stages of the Dark Age of Technology, fortunately missing the conflicts that tore Terra apart. They are also unsure of when they first accepted the Imperial Cult as their fragmented records say sometime during M33. The early settlers had other concerns, their navigation failed and they crash landed, losing most of their technology. They also found that most arable land was occupied by the natives- giant green aliens they had never before seen. This would mark the first of their conflicts with the Orks. They had to defend themselves against constant attack with little in the way of resources. This affected their lifestyle, they tend to eat a very vegetable heavy diet, with goat and chicken making up the bulk of their animal protein. It also affected their culture- to this day men and women are seen as equals in everything except marriage. In later Millenia a few thousand colonists became three billion and as the population grew they took to the mountains, building the cities that bear the names of the families who spearheaded the projects. They are perhaps best defined by their six hundred year struggle against the Orks also on Xomia, at least to outsiders. They are more than their armies though they are a quiet, hardworking people with little respect for anyone with unearned wealth, but proud of what they have accomplished, holding intense respect for fellow Ork fighters in the Imperial Guard. They see them as kindred, not in blood but in spirit. As such many Szerkasians settled here as well as Olea after their home was lost to Hive Fleet Erebus. Civilian clothing is very bright and colorful utilizing various shades of red blue and gold. It often includes fur,the most prized of which comes from a voracious native predator they call the "Rock Hound". Xomia marriage customs Marriage within one's own distant family is acceptable as long as those being married are at least second cousins but this is uncommon. In such cases married couples keep their own family names and the children of these marriages chose which surname they wish to use, leading to a confusing situation to outsiders when siblings do not share the same name. A woman takes the lead in such matters. A man expresses interest in a woman through a female intermediary, usually a close friend or relative. The woman will, after whatever time she deems appropriate, propose that they marry. If the man in question agrees to do so an Ecclesiarchy priest is called to bestow the Emperor's blessing on the new family in a ceremony witnessed by the couple's family and friends. Amongst Xomia Imperial Guard the procedure is somewhat different. Bloodbound It is not uncommon to find couples within the ranks of the Youngbloods and other Xomia regiments. In these “Bloodbound” pairings a female soldier chose the man she thought most worthy of her attentions due to some heroic action and if the man in question wishes to keep her he must to continue to impress her. Gifts of Ork teeth or scrap metal converted into jewelry or hair pins usually help. If these relationships become strong enough and no priest is available their commanding officer acting as a legal representative of the government will marry them in a “field wedding”(often done en masse), painting their helmets with the symbol of the “Bloodbound” two white rings interlocking around a drop of blood representing enemy blood shed together and their unity, both as part of an army and as a married couple. Despite being legally married priests still prefer to bestow the Emperor's blessing as soon as possible. Xomia Imperial Guard Their story begins in late M40. There were already Orks on Xomia, leftover from a period long before human settlement. Xomia did not have any Imperial Guard at the time and so the PDF's solution to this problem was to keep them fighting amongst themselves and keeping them from threatening their settlements. They were forced to make a rapid change when a WAAAGH arrived in orbit. This proved to more than they could easily handle. The ships that were not destroyed landed enough Orks to unite the Feral Orks behind strong leadership and the destroyed vessels left behind enough debris that the Xomia could not send a clear signal for help for over 6 centuries. Several leading families would emerge as leaders- among them the Arbazians, wealthy industrialists with ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus, whose factories would produce weapons armor and Chimeras. Gradually the rest of the Imperium assumed them lost and so they were forced to stand alone, and stand together with almost every family producing at least one soldier. They retreated back to their mountain cities- most notably the capital Zamarian(named for the family who built it) and fortified farms, fighting behind walls where they could not wanting to get close to the Greenskins. When in the field they fought as guerillas- killing Ork leaders, keeping them contained and fighting amongst themselves long enough for them to revert into savagery. But these endless civil wars would also produce capable Ork leaders- they would unite the disparate warbands and launch new offensives, on occasion bolstered by Orks landing from offworld bringing new Boyz and gear along with their expertise. This cycle continued countless times over the centuries but as the war continued the men and women fighting it got better at doing so- their tactics changed, instead of mere containment and defensive operations they got much more aggressive taking and holding land, standing and fighting instead of launching ambushes and then retreating behind high walls ringed with towers and heavy weapons. The final years of the long war would come in the late 640s M41 when enough debris had fallen from orbit for a clear signal to be sent out, reestablishing contact with old friends. They received help from other regiments with reputations as Ork fighters- the Imperial Guard of Olea, Khazamga and the Kashidaan Cluster. Together in less than a year they would reduce the Orks to a minor threat easily dealt with by the world's PDF- going back to the old days, keeping them contained and fighting amongst themselves. With their world free and their place in the Tricamerate Pact secured The Departmento Munitorum built a stronghold in Zamarian and looked for men and women willing to take to the stars to fight Orks and other Xenos in the name of the Imperium. The Youngbloods would lead the charge, driven by revenge and wanderlust doing their part, and doing it well, to keep the Greenskins from conquering any other Imperial worlds. They had almost forgotten the rest of the Imperium after so many years of isolation but they swore to serve once again, committing every new Guard unit raised to the Tricamerate Pact. The process is slow but their limited numbers emphasize quality that has never been doubted over quantity. The latest generation of their armies have been redeployed alongside other Tricamerate Pact units to the fringes of the River of Exiles to face new enemies. With the fall of the Kashidaan Cluster Serlendor's Schola Progenium facility was relocated here, rebuilt as a mountaintop fortress. The best known unit their world has raised is The Xomia "Youngbloods" Zamarian As noted above the cities on Xomia are built in the mountains. The greatest of these and the capital of the world is the city of Zamarian, like most named for the family that led the project. Built over the course of roughly 50 years in late M38 the city is located amongst the highest peaks of the Daritai mountain range and is home to eight million people. It is built on a series of man made plateaus dug out of the side of these mountains and curling around its edges, the different sections of the city divided by vast chasms between the mountains and spanned by enormous bridges built as the city expanded. The center of the city is built around a large waterfall fed by constant snow melt. The center of the city contains government buildings, the Departmento Munitorum fortress and a cathedral with spires reaching hundred meters. Every building is constructed of a dark stone harvested from the mountains themselves. The multi-family homes often have hydroponic gardens, a chicken coop and a small chapel. There is one road in, protected by a series of checkpoints and bunkers and the city itself is surrounded by a wall a hundred meters high and twenty thick with watchtowers holding heavy weapons at regular intervals allowing for overlapping fields of fire. Category:BrowncoatMando Category:Tricamerate Pact Category:Treaties